This past weekend was a perfect showcase for women’s boxing as at least three world title fights occurred; signifying the healthy position and significance of women’s boxing in the modern era. However, despite the solid title bouts that occurred, the super featherweight contest between Alycia Baumgardner and Delfine Persoon was ruled a no-contest after the latter sustained an injury during an accidental clash of heads that made it impossible for her to fight. On the same night, Mikaela Mayer netted a controversial majority decision win over Sandy Ryan to claim her WBO welterweight title. On Saturday, September 28th, Rhiannon Dixon suffered a surprising loss to Terri Harper, losing the WBO lightweight title she had won just recently.
Alycia Baumgardner Vs. Delfine Persoon
Following the turbulent and still predominantly vague and unclear saga surrounding her failed drug test, American undisputed super featherweight (130 lbs) champion Alycia Baumgardner (15-1, 7 KO’s) returned to the ring on Friday, September 27th, against Belgium mandatory challenger Delfine Persoon (49-3, 19 KO’s). The two fought at the Lux Studios venue in Atlanta, George (USA).
The contest had been very much been going Baumgardner’s way, despite Persoon pressuring early on as expected. Managing to deal with her opponent’s offense, Baumgardner looked to be in decent form despite having last fought in July of 2023. Persoon, though aggressive, seemed to have some difficulties with conditioning and accuracy, allowing Baumgardner to take the majority of the rounds―despite some struggles dealing with Persoon’s right hand early on.
However, the fight was eventually cancelled after the two fighters clashed heads in the 4th round, with Persoon suffering a gruesome cut that forced the referee to cancel the bout on the doctor’s advice. The result was a no-contest, with a future bout required to be planned given their bout has been disregarded as an official bout. As is standard in professional boxing, bouts that are cancelled before the start of the 5th round [due to cases such as accidental injuries] are ruled a no-contest, meaning neither of the fighter suffered a win or a loss on their records.
As this bout was an undisputed match and involved all of Baumgardner’s four titles, it is likely to be re-scheduled as early as this year.
Sandy Ryan Vs Mikaela Mayer
In the women’s welterweight (147 lbs) division, British WBO champion Sandy Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KO’s) defended her title in the United States against Mikaela Mayer (20-2, 5 KO’s) at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York on Friday, September 27th. The show was promoted by Top Rank.
The match proved to be close and competitive. Ryan, as the defending champion, took up the bulk of the activity, seeking to pressure and push Mayer who genuinely struggled dealing with Ryan’s offense. Though Mayer showed plenty of glimpses of skill, patience and ring IQ, it appeared that Ryan’s efforts were enough to hand her a close but clear victory.
However, the end result culminated in massive disappointment for Ryan as Mayer was announced the winner by majority decision (MD), winning through the judges’ scorecards of 97-93, 96-94, 95-95 following the end of the 10 rounds.
As has unfortunately become common, the scorecards did not seemingly reflect the reality of the contest which pointed moreso towards a draw, or a narrow win for Ryan given her overall effectiveness. Ironically, Mikaela Mayer has been considered to be on the wrong side of the judges’ decisions herself in at least two title fights; when she faced Alycia Baumgardner in 2022 in a bid to become undisputed at 130 lbs, and in her previous match this year when she lost to British champion Natasha Jonas (15-2-1, 9 KO’s) in what appeared to be a clear win for Mayer.
However, this contest was a reverse in fortune for Mayer as she claimed a victory over Sandy Ryan to become the new WBO welterweight champion, despite likely having not deserved such a contest. There are two glaring factors case; Mayer’s promoter, Top Rank, who promoted the show and the fact the two fighters fought in the United States―giving Mayer a steep advantage in two departments.
The result is further compounded by a pre-match incident that occurred where Ryan had paint thrown at her while leaving her hotel prior to the match. According to Ryan herself, CCTV footage has identified the assailant(s) who will be pursued by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
“Still coming to terms with what happened last night,” Ryan stated in a post on social media. “I know I shouldn’t have fought after I was attacked leaving my hotel but I couldn’t let them win like that.
“I was fighting off empty and I still won the fight. We have obtained the CCTV [footage] and are in contact with the NYPD. Pretty obvious what happened and the truth will be set free shortly. You tried to ruin my career but trust me, it’s only just begun.“
Undercard Results:
- At featherweight (126 lbs), American prospect Bruce Carrington (13-0, 8 KO’s) had a tough outing against Ugandan ranked opponent [top 10 with the WBC and WBO] Sulaiman Segawa (17-5-1, 6 KO’s), winning narrowly by MD over the course of 10 rounds. Carrington retained his North American Boxing Federation (NABF), WBC Silver and WBO Inter-Continental titles as a result.
- 22-year old super welterweight (154 lbs) contender Xander Zayas (20-0, 12 KO’s) also retained his NABF and WBO North American Boxing Organization (NABO) titles in a dominant win over Mexican challenger Damien Sosa (25-3, 12 KO’s).
- Recent Top Rank signee and American 154 lbs contender Vito Mielnicki Jr. (20-1, 12 KO’s) performed well in his promotional debut against relatively unknown Italian contender Khalil El Harraz (16-6-1, 2 KO’s), netting a win through a controversial [due to one of the judges’ scorecards of 95-95] majority decision.
Rhiannon Dixon Vs. Terri Harper
British WBO lightweight (135 lbs) champion Rhiannon Dixon (10-1, 1 KO’s) defended her title for the first time against former world champion Terri Harper (15-2-2, 6 KO’s), but found herself on the end of a disappointing loss after the 10 rounds had finished. The two main-evented a Matchroom card at the Park Community Arena in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
Despite Terri Harper moving down two division since last fighting in the 147 lbs division and having suffered a loss during her last match, Harper showed the exact traits of a world champion as she carved out a unanimous decision (UD) victory over Dixon.
The gulf in experience was the most notable aspect of their match, with Harper adopting an approach on the backfoot where she trapped Dixon numerous times with well-timed counters. Dixon, who took the frontfoot approach, sought to pressure Harper but walked herself into too many counters and further proved uncomfortable whenever put into a clinch―which gradually wore her out.
Harper further proved her advanced ring IQ and skillset by alternating between styles, sometimes showing aggressiveness while launching at range, while she remained patient at other times to perfectly time Dixon who only adopted a single approach of coming forward.
After the 10 customary rounds, Terri Harper was the clear winner by UD, winning through the judges’ scorecards of 96-94 and 97-93 twice―culminating in her claiming Dixon’s WBO lightweight title to become a three-time world champion.
Undercard Results:
- British super bantamweight (122 lbs) contender Peter McGrail (10-1, 6 KO’s) put up a good performance against former British and Commonwealth champion Brad Foster (15-4-2, 5 KO’s), knocking his opponent out in the 2nd round with a body shot.
- British flyweight (112 lbs) contender Galal Yafai (8-0, 6 KO’s) completed an easy route over Mexican fighter Sergio Orozco Oliva (9-9, 7 KO’s), stopping his opponent in the 3rd round. With this tune-up fight complete, Yafai is now fully set to face Sunny Edwards (21-1, 4 KO’s) on November 30th without any complications.